# 1 and # 2 quarterback Jaxton Schmitt and Receiver Aiden Wilkerson have worked very hard to build on of the best QB/Rec duos in the area with 7 long touchdown plays this year. Austun Fugate has also provided a prime target for Schmitt this year. Together they have 43 catches for 746 yards.(Photo:GaryBolden/RCM)
Eagles Setup Big Game With Walker Valley on 10/31/25 For Game For First
10/24/25 - Athens, TN -- Rhea County traveled to McMinn County for big game on Friday, 10/24/25. Both teams came in with 3-1 region records and chance to finish strong as Eagles would travel to Walker Valley and McMinn would host East Hamilton on final day of the regular season. All four teams were looking to get a top 2 spot, which would guarantee a home game for opening the playoffs.
Rhea came out and really controlled the game with early scores and their defense did a good job of keeping McMinn off balance on their way to the 34-6 win to move their region record to 4-1 and their overall record to 8-1. McMinn's region record droped to 3-2 and their overall record dropped to 5-4.
Austun Fugate returned opening kickoff to the 27 yard-line. Jaxton Schmitt began the drive with a nice 11-yard gain on quarterback designed run. A couple of plays later Mason Ford found a nice gap and ran 62 yards for the touchdown with 10:18 left in the quarter.
McMinn brought the Fugate kickoff back to the 18 yard-line. McMinn picked up a first down via the pass to the 35 yard-line, where the drive stalled and Cherokees punted on 4th down from the 40 yard-line. Eagles began their second drive at the 32 yard-line. Ford earned a first down with bruising 10-yard run to begin the drive. Schmitt ran for 10 yards, but came up short of first down and Fugate punted.
McMinn returned Fugate's punt to their 22 yard-line. Eagles' defense forced a 3-and-out and Rhea began their third possession at the 48 yard-line with 3:50 on the clock. On second play of the drive, Aiden Wilkerson just simply ran past the defender and Schmitt's pass was on target and Wilkerson scored the second Eagle touchdown with 2:10 left in first quarter and Fugate added extra point kick for 14-0 lead.
Fugate's kick found the endzone and Cherokees began possession at their 20 yard-line. Peanut Dyer picked up first down around the 45 yard-line with nice run. Dyer picked up another first down with run to the 40 yard-line of the Eagles. A called pass interference penalty moved the ball another 15 yards to the 20 yard-line of the Eagles. Eagle Rose had a sack of quarterback on third down and Cherokees went for a field goal that was no good.
Eagles first play of the possession went for a touchdown as Schmitt ran toward the right sideline and when the pass defender left Aiden Wilkerson to stop Schmitt, Schmitt lobbed the ball to Wilkerson who streaked down the sidelines for the 80-yard touchdown with 10:59 left in 2nd quarter. Fugate's kick moved the Eagles to a 21-0 lead.
Fugate's kick bounced in the endzone putting McMinn at the 20 yard-line. Dyer picked up a first down on a run. Christian Yearwood rushed unblocked and dropped the running back for a five-yard loss on 3rd down forcing a punt, which Landon Hallman blocked and Fugate recovered the ball in the endzone for the touchdown with 8:15 left in 2nd quarter. Fugate's kick was short and score remained 27-0.
Fugate's kick bounced into endzone and Cherokees began possession at the 20 yard-line. Lincoln Watson had nice run for first down at the 35 and a Lawson pass to Drake Fraizer, who took the ball across midfield. Lawson had two consecutive runs to move the ball down to the Eagles' 27 yard-line. A completion to Nathan Kessler moved the ball inside the 10. On a 3rd and goal from the 8 yard-line Lawson rolled out and ran into the endzone. On the extra point try, Cherokees had a bad snap and Lawson's improvised pass was incomplete as score remained 27-6.
Mike Kraskouskas's kickoff was taken by Fugate from the 5 up to the 25 yard-line. Aiden Wilkerson pulled in a beautiful sideline pass to move the Eagles to the 31 yard-line with 1:20 on the clock. A penalty wiped out third Wilkerson touchdown of the half on the next play. Ford slipped out of the backfield for a nice gain up to the 23 yard-line with 17 second remaining. On 4th and 2, Fugate's field goal attempt was no good. Cherokees ran a couple of plays before halftime.
Cherokees had a nice return to around the 40 negated by penalty and began their possession at their 10 yard-line. Cherokee's drive stalled at the 30 and the punt was taken at the 40 and penalty took the ball to the 45 of McMinn. Ford had a trio of good runs to move the ball from the 20 into the endzone and put Eagles up 33 to 6 and Kick pushed score to 34-6 with 6:49 left in third quarter.
Cherokees began next possession at their 30 yard-line. Eagles' defense limited McMinn to 5 yards on 3 plays, forcing a punt, which gave Eagles possession at their 47 yard-line. Eagles went 3 and out and punt gave McMinn ball at their 25 yard-line. Running back Lincoln Watson earned first down on Lawson pass up to the 38 yard-line. Tucker Bradshaw came up with big sack on Lawson at the 34. Lawson picked up another first at the 48 yard-line. Wyatt Mangefrida made nice tackle on Lawson to force Cherokees into a 4th and 4 at the 45 yard-line of the Eagles with 1:09 left in the 3rd quarter.
Eagles began their possession at the 45 after Cherokees failed to make the first on 4th down pass. Nice pass to 25 moved the ball down to the Cherokee 25 yard-line. Backup quarter back 4 found 14 for nice gain before penalty brought the ball back. Eagles recovered their fumble. 4 found 26 for dump-off pass that moved the ball down to the McMinn 14-yard line. Eagles drive stalled and 4th down play came up short, giving McMinn the ball at their 7 yard-line.
Lawson found Jaxson Gonzalez for first down at the 26., and again for first down at the 37. Lawson hit Nathan Kessler for another first down at the 47 before Austun Fugate intercepted the overthrow at the 7, which he returned to the 30 yard-line with 2:30 left in game. Eagles ran out the clock and earned the 34-6 win to move their season record to 8-1 with big game at Walker Valley on Halloween Night, 10/31/25 with 7 pm kickoff.
Walker currently is 5-0 in region play and Rhea and East Hamilton are both 4-1. A win by Rhea and East Hamilton on final game will result in 3-way tie for first and then tiebreakers will be necessary. If all 3 teams have same region record the teams are ranked by best overall record, which would move East Hamilton to first, Rhea to second, Walker Valley to third and McMinn County to 4th. Walker Valley would have an 8-2 overall record and Rhea and East Hamilton would have 9-1 overall records, but East Hamilton owns tiebreaker with Rhea to take first place. A Rhea County loss and East Hamilton loss would put both teams at 8-2 and each would have 4-2 region records, giving East Hamilton 2nd place. Obviously for Rhea County, they need win and East Hamilton loss to clear the way for region championship. Eagles will be working on their end of that on Friday and will focus on that game alone.
Coach Harvey answered some question about the game afterwards.
What was the message to the team coming into this game?
- Play with our next snap mentality. Good or bad, go play the next snap. Have each other's backs and play for your teammate. We talked to our guys for two weeks now about preparing the right way for those big region games and how to handle them when adversity hits.
Aiden Wilkerson and Jaxton Schmitt seem to have a real connection out there. Talk about the improvement this year by both of these young men.
- Aiden is always going to be one of the best players on the field. People are having to play him different then they want because of how we have been able to run the ball and how Jaxton has been keeping people in check with his legs. When those extra hats on defense now have to fit the run, it opens Aiden up downfield and we have been hitting our shots the last few weeks unlike early in the season.
- Schmitt has improved more than anyone on our team and he will continue to gain confidence as he gets more starts under his belt.
On defense, did you have any players who really stepped up this game?
- I think you saw our DL play better than normal and our DB's did a good job at keeping things in front of them all night. We did a good job Friday of just making them keep snapping the ball and not give up explosive plays.
Who are some of your top special teams players?
- 2/11(Wilkerson/Fugate) are always dangerous when they touch it in the return game and 11 has big moments as a kicker. Several of our sophomores like Landon Hallman and Teagan Everett have been showing out.
As you approach opportunity to finish in tie for region title against a very good Walker Valley team, how do you break down the practice week as you approach next Friday?
- We will treat game prep like every week. Our guys are in a good routine on how we prepare for opponents and compete with each other during the week to be ready for a very talented team at their place on Friday night.
Talk about Austun Fugate's nose for the ball on defense as he continues to rack up interceptions.
- He is a ball hawk for sure. He is a coach's dream when it comes to understanding scheme and what is needed out of him. He does a great job for us all over the field.
Have you made any major changes to your coaching regime this year, or has improvement been time spent in the system by the players?
- We are always tweaking things to fit our players and give them the best chance to showcase what they do well. Year two in scheme makes things much easier also. It is a combination of both for sure and when they have success doing it, it is very rewarding for them.
Top performers vs McMinn:
JAXTON SCHMITT 7/9 202 YARDS 2 TD, 7 CAR 26 YARDS
MASON FORD 14 CAR 132 YDS 2 TD, 1 REC 22 YARDS
AIDEN WILKERSON 4 REC 136 YDS 2 TD
AUSTUN FUGATE 2 REC 44 YARDS, 1 Defensive TD
Rhea County Season Stats:
| PASSING | COMP | ATT | YDS | TD | INT |
| JAXTON SCHMITT | 60 | 94 | 939 | 11 | 2 |
| RUSHING | ATT | YARDS | TD | FUM | |
| FORD | 130 | 1,235 | 14 | ||
| WILKERSON | 25 | 233 | 9 | ||
| SCHMITT | 58 | 416 | 4 | 1 | |
| FUGATE | 3 | 11 | |||
| CHANCE | 29 | 74 | 1 | ||
| KERLEY | 2 | 8 | |||
| RECEIVING | CATCHES | YARDS | TD | FUM | |
| WILKERSON | 23 | 424 | 7 | ||
| FUGATE | 20 | 322 | 2 | ||
| DEVANEY | 4 | 35 | |||
| YEARWOOD | 3 | 25 | |||
| FORD | 8 | 51 | 1 | ||
| LT | 3 | 41 | |||
| QD | 2 | 21 | |||
| RECTOR | 1 | 36 | 1 | ||
| MILLER | 1 | 15 | |||
| CHANCE | 1 | 11 |
| Name | TOTAL | SOLO | ASST | TFL | SACK | FF | PBU | Big Hit | INT | DEF TD |
| Austun Fugate | 47.5 | 42 | 11 | 8 | 1 | 6 | 1 | |||
| Zeke Romero | 69 | 55 | 28 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Wyatt Mangefrida | 92 | 79 | 26 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| LT Donegan | 57 | 50 | 14 | 1 | 8 | 2 | ||||
| Tyler Garrison | 17.5 | 14 | 7 | 3 | 1 | |||||
| Max Daughtrey | 18.5 | 16 | 5 | 4 | ||||||
| Eli Evans | 45.5 | 39 | 13 | 3 | 2 | |||||
| Tristyan Odum | 66.5 | 56 | 21 | 5 | 7 | |||||
| Eagle Rose | 24.5 | 21 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 3 |
| Kaiden Rector | 25.5 | 23 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 2 |
McMinn Game Stats:
| Name | SOLO | ASST | TFL | SACK | FF | FR | PBU | Big Hit | INT | Block Punt | DEF TD |
| Zeke Romero | 7 | 4 | |||||||||
| Eagle Rose | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| LT Donegan | 4 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| Tristyan Odum | 11 | 2 | 1 | ||||||||
| Wyatt Mangefrida | 10 | 5 | |||||||||
| Austun Fugate | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| Gage Devany | |||||||||||
| Rett Robertson | 1 | ||||||||||
| Tucker Bradshaw | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Jackson Skiles | 2 | 2 |
| Landon Hallman | 8 | 3 | 1 |